Levon Aronian won the 2026 Biel Masters Triathlon on his first visit to the festival, building an unassailable lead with standout results in the rapid and blitz stages. Aydin Süleymanli finished second, while Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus edged Lê Quang Liêm for third place on a tiebreak.
Biel Chess Festival Highlights
The Biel Chess Festival featured two flagship events, the Masters Triathlon and the Generations Challenge, alongside various side events. Both main events employed a six-player round-robin format across three time controls—blitz, rapid, and classical—with scores combined for an overall standing. In the Masters, the top four then played an extra classical single round-robin.
Aronian began the final day as the sole leader and needed only a draw against Süleymanli to secure the title. He allowed no chances with the black pieces, and the game ended level by threefold repetition. Aronian was solid throughout the classical portion, drawing all eight of his classical games, and he dominated the faster sections with 9 out of 10 in rapid and 8.5 out of 10 in blitz, for a total of 29.5 points.
The 43-year-old, born in Armenia and representing the United States since 2021, adds another major success to a long career at the top. A former world No. 2, he reached a peak rating of 2830 in 2014, the fourth-highest ever recorded.
Süleymanli’s runner-up finish capped a breakthrough week. A late replacement for Nodirbek Yakubboev and only fifth by rating among the six players, he would have taken the title on a Chess960 tiebreak had he defeated Aronian in the last round.
Erdogmus and Lê also entered the final round with a chance at second place. Lê advanced a passed b-pawn to the seventh rank and had winning chances, but the game ended in a repetition. The two tied on points, with Erdogmus claiming third on a better Chess960 score.
In the Generations Challenge, 16-year-old Václav Finěk led from day one and never let go. He topped both the classical and rapid legs and finished just a half-point behind the blitz winner, Xiao Tong. A last-round draw against Xiao was enough to seal first place overall. Finěk, currently an International Master, is closing in on the Grandmaster title. Xiao took second, confirming his status as the highest-rated player in the field, and Marco Materia completed the podium in third.